I live in a town just north of Auckland, New Zealand, a place which has been nick-named Auckland's playground...

PROS

~25-30mins drive down the motorway to Auckland CBD
~5 mins walk to the beautiful, calm beaches on the east coast
~30-40mins drive to wild, rugged beaches of the west coast
~there is still a beautiful rural character to the District
~plenty of diversity with produce grown in the district, lots of vineyards and winery's, and small artisan businesses...
~reasonably selection of global food
~everything is still reasonably priced, well to me anyway, with the exception of a few things...
~lovely laid back attitudes and freindly people
~the weather...the sunshine here is beautiful when it shows

CONS

~house prices are absolutely astronomical. Anything beachfront, and I mean anything will cost you more than a million dollars to buy...in most cases more than a few million.
~public transport in Auckland/north of Auckland is atrocious. It's an awful thign to say when you actually NEED a car to get anywhere
~there still isn't enough diversity in food imported from other countries
~It is very expensive to fly out of NZ to another country. Or around NZ for that matter. The last time I checked it was cheaper to fly to Australia, then to Christchurch.
~the weather...in Auckland it rains...and rains....and so on
~"tall-poppy syndrome"

That's all I can think of at the moment, I'm sure there's heaps more good and bad things btu my mind has drawn a blank...

I'd like to tell you about where I spend my summers. We call it Paradise. It's a 65 acre island at the junction of the St.Lawrence River and Lake Ontario called Garden Island. This place has history! In 1792 Lady Simcoe visited there. In the 1800's it was the home of a ship-building empire (Garden Island Shipping) and once held a village of 700 people. The family who owned the company eventually turned the remaining buildings into rental cottages in the early 1900's. There remain about 13 original buildings. The former schoolhouse, post office and worker's homes. Our 'cottage' is about 120 years old. There are no roads or motor vehicles here. A central lane connects all the buildings and people use wheelbarrows or handcarts to transport food etc. The same families have been coming here for many years so generations of families know one another and share summers. We have island cocktail parties, corn roasts and potluck suppers. Sometimes we press apple cider from the small orchard of trees. Children wander the island at will. There's a huge meadow, a marsh and woods to explore. Not to mention the shoreline. It really is a tiny patch of Paradise - like living in a small village - for part of every year. No TV of course (or indoor plumbing!) You can probably google in Garden Island Kingston Ontario and find out more about it.

NL here. when first arrived from YVR [many moons ago] i quickly realised i was in big trouble in the food department...so i decided to learn how to cook if i wanted decent food years have gone by and i still don't care for the food here but the one thing i absolutely love is harrings maybe it's the one reason i've never left even if i wanted to???! oh yeah, and of course my favourite pubs in AMS and ANR._________________live to eat, drink, and travel (to eat and drink, wellofcourse.)

Saudades, I feel like an ignorant rustic. I had to google YVR to learn that it's Vancouver, and now I understand how you could detect a different culinary style in your current location. I was just in Seattle last weekend, and it was still Copper River salmon season. That, and manila clams with a pesto/garlic sauce. I should have stayed in the Pacific Northwest._________________The goal is to fit it all in.

NL - Netherlands ( Holland)
AMS - Amsterdam
ANR - ????
Saudades , do you work in the tourist/flight tickets sales department?
I completely agree with you about the food in NL, as well as about your addiction to herrings.
Hope you are not feeling too saudade ....

ANR is Antwerp and it must be someone who knows his/her citycodes well...

The food isn't that bad, it's just probably very different from what you are used to. And the new herring season just started, wonderful!
Or how about asparagus, our 'white gold'? (last week in season now!) Dutch strawberries?
Choises are not as many as you are used to in the US, Canada or maybe even Australia, but hey, we're a small country and the assortiment improving by the day! Just last week I found a basket of 'mixed, 'wild'tomatoes'in the supermarket, all different shapes and colours.
You see...we're getting there!

Chicago Bear: clams...how i love fresh clams! extremely hard to come by. usually imported from Italty. the food is quite different ...i'm not used to eating baby food. i think they like it mashed, and vegs are always boiled to death when i prefer mine crunchy, or raw even. lots of meat meat meat. now that you've been to PNW you know the food, especially fresh fish, is fabulous there. that's one of the things i miss about YVR...fresh seafood, Pacific salmon, sashimi [Sashimi!!!], nachos with extra salsa/jalapenos/cheese sauce

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Simona: funny you asked...actually i was just about to start that job but had doubts so i decided to "take off" before doing something for work that i didn't enjoy. started my Eurail trip in NL and after visiting many places in Europe i wanted to stay [i was a young lass then]. never looked back since. so that should explain why i still write city names in codes yes, always extra chopped onions for me, preferably the red kind. and a glass of 2 of Tio Pepe to wash it all down. Dutchies are amazed to see me [sometimes] liberally pour half a bottle of tabasco over the herrings. haven't been back to YVR since 2001. these days i only have saudade for all things Portuguese

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Swan: yes, the new season has started. i just had my first 3 *new* herrings yesterday for lunch i love the 'white gold', absolutely! NL, as is everywhere else, has its pluses and minuses...i'm still here! _________________live to eat, drink, and travel (to eat and drink, wellofcourse.)

Gisele - I'm guessing you live where I once lived.
Saudades - Do you listen to Cesaria Evora, the Cape Verde singer who sings about saudade in Portuguese? You must. She's fabulous._________________Barbara

Well Saudade, (a young lass is a girl lass or a boy lass?), I'm in the food and travel business ( separately) and our daughter is working at LY ( EL-AL - Israeli Airlines) , I live in TLV ( Tel Aviv) , so I read signs.

Swan, I love pea soup, herrings and onions,and we, Israelis have a soft spot for the Dutch people because of historical reasons, so you'll forgive me if I'm not and afficionado of frikadellen and fries with sate and/or mayo sauce (!!!!).

I live in TLV, 40 minutes from Jerusalem, 1 1/2 hour from the Dead Sea, 2 hours from Amman, 3 hours from the Sea of Gallilee, 2 hours from Nazareth, four hours from the Red Sea, 5 hours from Damascus, 15 minutes from the Mediteranean Sea, 30 minutes from Iran's bombs and 20 min. from Iraq's missiles( or vice versa). Lots of good restaurants, wonderful beaches, soft sand, some exploding buses, 300 sunny days per year, extraordinary sunsets. Not a dull moment.